How to Appeal an SGO Allowance Decision from Your Council

You have opened the letter from your council and the SGO allowance is lower than expected — or they have cut it at annual review, or refused it entirely. The instinct is to accept it, because challenging a council decision feels impossible. It is not. There is a structured process, and councils get these calculations wrong more often than you might think.

Here is the escalation path, from requesting a simple review to taking it to the Ombudsman.

Step 1: Request a Written Breakdown

Before you challenge anything, you need to see the numbers. Under the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005, you have the right to request a written copy of the council's SGO Financial Support Policy and a detailed breakdown of how your allowance was calculated.

The calculation should show:

• The baseline fostering rate for the child's age group
• Deductions for Child Benefit and UC child element
• Your household income and the expenses they have allowed
• The statutory living allowance baseline they used
• The net allowance figure

Common errors include: double-counting Child Benefit (deducting it from the allowance and then failing to factor it into the income calculation correctly), using the wrong age band for the fostering rate, ignoring disability-related expenses, and applying an arbitrary cap that is not in their published policy.

Step 2: Request a Formal Review

Write to the council's children's services team within 28 days of the decision notice requesting a formal review. Your letter should:

• Reference the specific regulation (Regulation 13 or 18 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005)
• Identify the errors or unfair assumptions in the calculation
• Attach evidence — payslips, benefit statements, receipts for disability-related costs, the child's DLA award letter
• Ask for the review to be conducted by an officer who was not involved in the original decision

The council should respond with a revised calculation or a reasoned explanation for why the original decision stands.

Step 3: Statutory Complaints Procedure

If the review does not resolve the issue, you enter the formal complaints route under the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006:

Stage 1 — Local Resolution: A written complaint to the team manager. The council has 10–20 working days to respond with a written decision.

Stage 2 — Independent Investigation: If Stage 1 does not resolve it, you can request an investigation by an Independent Person and Investigating Officer. This takes 25–65 working days and produces a formal report with recommendations.

Stage 3 — Review Panel: A hearing before an independent three-person panel. This is the final stage within the council's own system.

Step 4: The Local Government Ombudsman

If the council's complaints procedure fails or you believe there has been maladministration — such as failure to assess, misapplication of regulations, or an unreasoned blanket refusal — you can take the complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

The Ombudsman cannot change your court order or force the council to pay a specific amount, but they can order the council to re-assess your allowance properly and award a financial remedy for the injustice caused by maladministration.

Important: This Is Not the DWP Route

The appeal route for SGO allowances is completely separate from the DWP mandatory reconsideration and tribunal process. If DWP has refused your Universal Credit or Child Benefit, that goes through mandatory reconsideration and then the First-tier Tribunal using Form SSCS1. Council allowance disputes stay within the council complaints process and the Ombudsman.

Do not confuse the two — submitting a DWP mandatory reconsideration about a council allowance decision goes nowhere.

Our kinship financial help guide includes the full escalation flowchart for both council and DWP disputes, with template language for review request letters and the most common calculation errors to look for.

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